Arcane Foundry › Commanders › Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
Legendary Creature — Human Assassin · {R}{W}{B} · Black/Red/White commander
First strike
Whenever Altaïr attacks, exile up to one target Assassin creature card from your graveyard with a memory counter on it. Then for each creature card you own in exile with a memory counter on it, create a tapped and attacking token that's a copy of it. Exile those tokens at end of combat.
Build an Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad deck →
What Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · attackWhenever Altaïr attacks, exile up to one target Assassin creature card from your graveyard with a memory counter on it. Then for each creature card you own in exile with a memory counter on it, create
- Keyword · first strikefirst strike
What an Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad deck needs
Plays as copy engine. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- cards that exile from your own library and play from exile (its payoff fires on every card played from exile)
- high-value creatures and activated-ability creatures worth copying or borrowing
- self-mill, discard and recursion (the graveyard is a resource its text reads)
- assassin creatures (its text counts them)
- haste, evasion and protection for the commander, and extra combats (its own attack is the engine)
The Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 12× Exiles from your own library and lets you play it — the card flow of an exile-matters commander
- 12× A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- 6× Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- 26× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- 4× Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- 6× Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- 4× A team pump that actually pumps tokens
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
Best cards for Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
Exiles from your own library and lets you play it — the card flow of an exile-matters commander
- Ugin's Labyrinth0 mana
- Party Thrasher2 mana
- Passionate Archaeologist2 mana
- Tinybones, Bauble Burglar2 mana
- Endless Sands0 mana
- Aven Interrupter3 mana
- Mimic Vat3 mana
- Squee, the Immortal3 mana
A permanent whose value is in its enter-the-battlefield trigger — the payload a blink deck reuses
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Accursed Marauder2 mana
- Knight of the White Orchid2 mana
- Spirited Companion2 mana
- Solemn Simulacrum4 mana
- Cauldron Familiar1 mana
- Dualcaster Mage3 mana
- Fleshbag Marauder3 mana
Put haste on the commander the turn it resolves — a tap ability is unusable otherwise
- Rising of the Day3 mana
- Thousand-Year Elixir3 mana
- The Fire Crystal4 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Urabrask the Hidden5 mana
- Fervor3 mana
- Hammer of Purphoros3 mana
A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- Iridescent Vinelasher1 mana
- Razorkin Needlehead2 mana
- Assassin Initiate1 mana
- Bile-Vial Boggart1 mana
- Guul Draz Assassin1 mana
- Hired Poisoner1 mana
- Hullcarver1 mana
- Ruthless Ripper1 mana
Make the commander connect — a body that never deals combat damage never triggers
- Iroas, God of Victory4 mana
- Elspeth, Sun's Champion6 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Falthis, Shadowcat Familiar3 mana
- Goblin War Drums3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- On Wings of Gold4 mana
- Shanid, Sleepers' Scourge4 mana
Put your own cards into your graveyard as a resource
- Takenuma, Abandoned Mire0 mana
- Stitcher's Supplier1 mana
- Ripples of Undeath2 mana
- Eden, Seat of the Sanctum0 mana
- Tomb Fortress0 mana
- Millikin2 mana
- Perpetual Timepiece2 mana
- Syr Konrad, the Grim5 mana
A team pump that actually pumps tokens
- Intangible Virtue2 mana
- Caretaker's Talent3 mana
- Inspiring Leader3 mana
- Prava of the Steel Legion3 mana
- Gideon's Memorial2 mana
- Hildibrand Manderville // Gentleman's Rise2 mana
- Mite Overseer4 mana
- Phantom General4 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Path to Exile1 mana
- Swords to Plowshares1 mana
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- March of Otherworldly Light1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Terminate2 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Entomb1 mana
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
Combos with Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad + Port Razer + Roshan, Hidden Magister786 decks
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad + Port Razer + Maskwood Nexus541 decks
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad + Port Razer + Ashes Of The Fallen427 decks
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad + Port Razer + Conspiracy420 decks
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad + éomer, Marshal Of Rohan + Isshin, Two Heavens As One + Roshan, Hidden Magister134 decks
- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad + Bloodthirster + Roshan, Hidden Magister110 decks
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